I’m going to call April 1961 the month when Atlas Comics finally FINALLY became Marvel Comics, since some of their comic books on sale that month had a very distinctive “MC” insignia box on the covers: Journey into Mystery #69 and Strange Tales #86. Farewell Atlas Comics! I, for one, welcome our overlords Stan Lee, […]
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Atlas/Marvel’s latest batch of wacko giant monsters in January 1961 features Gruto, Grogg, Gorgilla and Metallo. Someone needs to fix the ‘G’ key on Stan Lee’s typewriter, it seems to be sticking! Metallo is a proto-Iron Man story. The army has produced an impenetrable metal suit about twice the size of a man. An escaped […]
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In late 1950s, Atlas Comics had not yet transformed into Marvel Comics, but its fantasy and sci-fi titles started featuring more outlandish covers replete with fantastical creatures in both shape and names. In Strange Worlds #3 (January 1958), we get a nice early example of this with “The Creature from Planet X”. The cover features […]
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In Challengers of the Unknown #4 (August 1958), it’s hard not to see Jack Kirby angling towards complex, fantastical world-building alongside and team-building between characters, as the Challengers find themselves traveling through time in a scientist’s “time cube”. Very Fantastic Four! And what I love the most are those giant, single-page splashes, like this one […]
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In Atlas/Marvel’s Mystic Comics #10 (April 1952), it becomes pretty clear that someone over at Atlas (perhaps a Mr. Stan Lee?) is really jealous of the attention that E.C. Comics is getting. Each story features a little blurb that pays homage to an E.C. comic book: Cryptic Tales, Vault of Evil, Crypt of Shadows… I’m […]
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in April 1947, the short-lived “Marvel Magazine” cover blurbs have been removed from all of Timely (Marvel) comic books, though it appears that Stan Lee is still in charge as editor. In Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (April 1947), the character of Namora is introduced – a female version of Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Throughout the 1940s, […]
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In October 1946, the covers of all of Timely Comics now feature “A Marvel Magazine” in the corner. Timely seems to have given the reigns to Stan Lee who is credited as “Editorial and Art Director”. The stories in Captain America #60 feel a bit like Marvel in its early Silver Age with lots of […]
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In Captain America #57 (April 1946), we see the editor of the comic (one legendary Stan Lee) requesting feeedback from its readers. This kind of feels to me like the precursor to the letters column, which no comic book seems to have introduced at this time.
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In Mystic Comics #6 (July 1941), Timely introduces a new costumed hero, The Destroyer, who focused on sabotaging Nazis during World War II. What’s unique about the Destroyer is that he was created by Stan Lee. Stan Lee started his career writing filler stories for Captain America and The Vision, but this is his most […]
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